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This new Bloomberg article sums everything up nicely, with some much needed direct quotes from Nintendo's president, Satoru Iwata. It's both stunning and kind of sad we're getting this "we're going to embrace a new business model" rhetoric from Nintendo leadership, and that they're "going to study" mobile markets and what-not. It's stunning in that Nintendo is finally acknowledging that it may not be a bad thing to not always go against the grain and follow their own path. It's sad in that this smacks of Nintendo's snail-like move to HD and other modern technologies, which caused a lot of their problems in the first place, i.e., slow to produce new games, behind-the-times online services, etc. Once they're done with their studying and assumed eventual embracing of at least some of these things, how much more time will have passed? Maybe it's indeed time for Iwata to step down like promised and have new, more inspired - and quicker acting and reacting - leadership to take his place. Sometimes it's just time to move on and let someone younger have a crack at the future of the company--just ask Microsoft's Steve Ballmer.

Great news! After an unfortunate supply issue, our latest book, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer, is now back in stock on Amazon.com. We've already received 15 out of 15 five star reviews on Amazon, and look forward to the upcoming media reviews on various podcasts, magazines, and Websites (we're also scheduled for a few interviews). Of course, the book is also available everywhere else books are sold, including Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, and Amazon Germany. The color eBook version (Kindle) should be out soon as well. I'll of course post again once that hits and some of the media reviews come out.

There's other big news related to this and other projects, so be sure to check back on Armchair Arcade soon for all the details. Thanks for the support.

8-bit gamingSony just introduced their streaming games service. Why buy a PS4 if you can stream those games to a ps3?

What about the pricing model?

Games aren't movies! Netflix works because of the subscription model and the low price. In the short term Sony may be able to squeeze some money out of old games if they use a sensible subscription model pricing. But it won't work for new games as they need to earn money and cover developing costs. On the long term they will run into issues. They will have to up the price.

Tandy CoCoJust recently I received a package in the mail. It was a flat pack type envelope addressed to me. Perplexed as I had not ordered anything recently, I opened the package. A small book slid out of the packing onto my desk. It took a moment to realize; Oh yes I had asked for a review copy of the new CoCo book. I finished the book this last Monday and I have spent the last 5 days collating my thoughts and opinions before sitting down to write this review here. Due to a hiatus on my podcast, I will be posting a review there as soon as possible, and may have to do a side recording specifically for the book. Read more below.

Retro Gaming MagazineI'm pleased to announced that Armchair Arcade is officially aligned with the upcoming Retro Gaming Magazine (RGM). Not only will RGM's staff be bringing you great editorial content each month, but so will the Armchair Arcade team--all in the style you've come to expect from us since our founding in 2003. On a personal note, a magazine is something those of us at Armchair Arcade had always wanted to pursue, but for various reasons, including industry volatility, it never quite got off the ground through traditional means. Of course, as many of you may remember, Armchair Arcade itself originally started as an online magazine, which ran for seven issues before we became a general purpose site, with on-demand articles, features, news items, blog posts, forums, videos, etc. That also allowed us time to better focus on other projects, including our popular books and even a documentary film, which should finally see release in 2014. In any case, this is an exciting new chapter in Armchair Arcade's continued evolution and we plan to fully support the RGM team in making the magazine - which is available in print and PDF versions - a success. Click here to see the worldwide purchasing options. You can check out RGM's official Facebook page, here, as well as Armchair Arcade's page, here.

This video shows a bit of Ridge Racer 6 running on the Xbox 360. Reiko Nagase - the series mascot - has even more loose strands of animated hair and is rendered in gorgeous detail in the full motion video opening sequence.

This game is the single outing on the Xbox platform of this series; the rest can be found on various PlayStation consoles. The goal of the game is to place 1st in a series of races. Nitro is introduced, which a lot of racers from around that era have--it temporarily boosts the performance of your car. To me, it always feels a little like cheating. The cars themselves are the familiar fictional cars that the Ridge Racer series is famous for.

There's a career mode called 'World Explorer' that allows you to 'live through' a career making choices on what races you want to race. There's new cars on offer but also mirroring and reversing of known tracks.

Ridge Racer 7 for the PlayStation 3 is a 'sequel' to this game, but basically seems to be something of a 'director's cut,' adding more vehicles and tracks. The PSP and PS Vita versions are quite similar to this game.

If you are looking for another game in the Ridge Racer series that is often overlooked, it's R:Racing Evolution on the PlayStation 2.